Teens learn about coastal restoration at youth summit

Published: Monday, January 28, 2013 at 4:19 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, January 28, 2013 at 4:19 p.m.

Local high school students will hit the road this weekend to learn about issues facing our coast and get their hands dirty working on their own restoration project.

The South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center is hosting its second-annual Wetlands Youth Summit from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

This year's summit will send up to 45 teens along the coast with representatives from local, state and federal government to learn about protection and restoration projects.

Students will end the day at Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge near New Orleans, where they will work with representatives of the National Football League in town for the Super Bowl to plant trees and restore a damaged maritime forest ridge.

The summit is being held on World Wetlands Day, which celebrates wetlands and their importance worldwide.

Jonathan Foret, executive director of the South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center, said the Youth Wetlands Summit, which has become the center's signature event, allows students to look beyond science into the politics of coastal protection and restoration.

The Discovery Center's programs target middle- and high school-aged students.

“There's so much more involved in restoring our coast than just the science angle,” Foret said. “The most successful part of this program has been helping the kids to understand the government agencies that work on many different levels to build these projects.”

Partners for the summit include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, the Terrebonne Parish Government, Louisiana State University's Coastal Sustainability Studio, the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge, the Natural Resources Conservation Services' Golden Meadow Plant Materials Center, Future Leaders of America's Gulf and the Youth Advisory Committee of Terrebonne Parish.

The program is sponsored by the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program and the NFL.

Last year's summit was held indoors and grounded in classroom-like lectures, said Karen McCormick, section chief of the Environmental Protection Agency's Marine and Coastal Section.

This year, the partners decided to get the kids out in the field to see restoration in action.

The group will first visit the U.S. Department of Agriculture's plant materials center in Golden Meadow, where plants are bred for restoration projects. Then they'll hit the road and engage in discussions with professionals on coastal topics.

Nick Matherne, director of coastal restoration in Terrebonne, will talk to the kids about local efforts to restore the coast. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will talk about ongoing work on the Morganza-to-the-Gulf hurricane protection system and other projects.

The state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority will talk about the state's master plan for coastal protection and restoration, the blueprint that drives coastal work in Louisiana. Environmental Protection Agency officials will talk about environmental issues in the Mississippi River watershed like the Gulf of Mexico dead zone, an area of low to no oxygen that forms each year off the Louisiana coast due to nutrient pollution in the river.

Finally, the teens will travel to Bayou Sauvage to restore a maritime forest ridge that was damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

McCormick said her agency has continued to work with the Wetlands Discovery Center on the youth summit because its an opportunity to reach kids about the coastal issues that will continue to affect their lives.

“It's a wonderful outreach to educate these kids who may go on to be future scientists or politicians who can help Louisiana to preserve these wetlands,” McCormick said.

There's still room for more teens on the trip. Local high school students who want to participate can contact Foret at jforet@slwdc.org.

Staff Writer Nikki Buskey can be reached at 857-2205 or nicole.buskey@houmatoday.com.

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